2015 Creative Arts Emmys

On September 12, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences presented the winners of the 2015 Creative Arts Emmys. While not as glamorous as the Prime Time Emmys with all the stars and spectacle, this set of awards honors a lot of the people who make what you see on the small screen magical. Going over the list of winners, several things of interest pop out at me. Here they are, in no particular order.

Last Week with John Oliver won Interactive Program. I don’t know what an interactive program is, but this show competed against @midnight with Chris Hardwick, Saturday Night Live: SNL 40, Talking Dead, and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Based on those shows, I still don’t know what they mean by “interactive program” since there is a mix of talk show, variety show, and comedy/game show. Regardless, I’m glad John Oliver’s program received an Emmy, even if it is confusing.

The Scientology expose’ Going Clear: Scientology And The Prison Of Belief received three Emmys: Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming, Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming, and Documentary or Nonfiction Special. That’s quite outstanding given the reputation of Scientology in Hollywood scaring everyone into submission.

Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Drama Series, Limited Series or Movie

Outstanding Special Visual Effects

Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour)

Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series

Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series

Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series

Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary or Fantasy Program (One Hour or More)

Outstanding Makeup for a Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic)

American Horror Story: Freak Show won five Emmys:

Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Supporting Role [I’m not sure how a visual effect can be in a supporting role]

Outstanding Hairstyling for a Limited Series or Movie

Outstanding Costumes for a Period/Fantasy Series, Limited Series or Movie

Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Limited Series, Movie, or a Special

Outstanding Makeup for a Limited Series or a Movie (Non-Prosthetic)

Saturday Night Live got some love Saturday Night. The show itself was nominated for umpteen awards and won for technical direction and hairstyling while The Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special took home the trophy for four categories:

Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Variety Series or Special

Variety Special

Outstanding Makeup for a Multi-camera Series or Special (Non-Prosthetic)

Directing for a Variety Special

Amazon was taken seriously with its Transparent winning Guest Actor, Comedy for Bradley Whitford, Outstanding Costumes for a Contemporary Series, Limited Series or Movie, and Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music.

The Academy paid tribute to Mel Brooks with the award for Short-Form Nonfiction Program going to A Tribute to Mel Brooks.

For the second year in a row, Between Two Ferns with Zack Galifianakis won Short-Form Live-Action Entertainment Program, and it doesn’t even have a network–it’s on Funny Or Die.

Dancing With The Stars and So You Think You Can Dance both won Outstanding Choreography. Aren’t they the same program?

The Oscars won an Emmy. But the Emmys will never win an Oscar.

In the realm of animation, the wonderful Over the Garden Wall won Outstanding Animated Program, the amazingly creative Adventure Time won Outstanding Short-Format Animated Program, and the highly talented Hank Azaria won Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance for The Simpsons. All of these please me to no end.

Alan Alda can add another trophy to his wall of Emmys with the win for Alan Alda And The Actor Within You: A YoungArts Masterclass in the Children’s Program category.

The Colbert Report received Outstanding Picture Editing for Variety Programming for its final episode. It was edited quite well.

The Deadliest Catch won several awards, but I don’t care.

And a bunch of other shows won some stuff. Now we wait until September 20 for the “real” Emmys.